Telangana: Rise in rape, molestation cases in 2014

Hyderabad: Cases of molestation ('outraging modesty') and rape increased in Telangana in 2014 compared with the previous year, though the overall crime graph showed a minuscule 0.41 per cent decline.

"The overall crime situation is under control. A total of 93,392 cognisable cases have been reported in 2014 compared with 93,780 cases in 2013," Director General of Police Anurag Sharma said on Monday at year-end press briefing.

The broader 'crime against women' category showed a decline with 11,794 cases reported till November 2014 against 12,472 cases during the same period last year.

But there was increase in the incidents of 'outraging modesty' (as defined in the Indian Penal Code) by 26.28 per cent with 2,907 cases registered as against 2,302 last year, he said. Further, rapes cases too showed a rise, from 781 in 2013 to 893 this year.

"The rise is due to awareness and encouragement to register cases...women are coming forward boldly to file complaints," the state police chief said. Cyber crime cases went up to 618 in 2014 from 334 last year. Kidnapping/abduction cases rose to 796 from 785. As many as 370 cases of trafficking were registered upto November 2014, 528 victims including 31 minors were rescued and 576 traffickers and 474 clients were arrested.

The state government sanctioned Rs 312 crore for new police vehicles. Rs 69.59 crore will be spent for integrated electronic CCTV surveillance system under Hyderabad and Cyberabad Police Commissionerate, he said.

For ensuring women's safety, a committee was constituted, which included senior women IAS and IPS officers, he said, and as per its recommendation, 'Women Help Desks' were set up at police stations, among other things, he said. 'SHE Teams' were formed in Hyderabad to curb eve-teasing while a campaign against sexual abuse of children was launched across 3,000 schools, the DGP added.

The DGP also mentioned the proposal to increase the representations of women in civil police to 33 per cent.

A new 'court monitoring system' is being implemented which helps speed up of trials in various criminal courts, he said.

Facebook accounts have been opened for police stations of Hyderabad City Commissionerate to receive complaints/grievance.